


Promises, Promises

by CirrusGrey



Category: The Magnus Archives (Podcast)
Genre: M/M, Martin returns, Short, episode 140 spoilers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-25
Updated: 2019-05-25
Packaged: 2020-03-17 08:45:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 888
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18961843
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CirrusGrey/pseuds/CirrusGrey
Summary: SPOILERS FOR MAG 140!!!He is halfway down the stairs to the Archives before he even fully processes what he is doing. His foot slips, slightly, when it hits him - but he catches himself on the railing and continues to run, not even slowing. Returning now might be a reckless, ill-considered action, but Martin knows without a doubt that it is the right one.He can't let Jon leave again.





	Promises, Promises

He is halfway down the stairs to the Archives before he even fully processes what he is doing. His foot slips, slightly, when it hits him - but he catches himself on the railing and continues to run, not even slowing. Returning now might be a reckless, ill-considered action, but Martin knows without a doubt that it is the right one. 

He can't let Jon leave again.

The office door opens as Martin reaches it, and his momentum carries him through without pause. Jon is on the other side; with no time to stop, Martin collides with him, his hands coming up to catch himself against Jon's chest. Jon takes a step back, and his bags hit the floor as his own hands come up to grab Martin's arms.

Martin's breath is coming quick, catching in his throat as his heart races. Still, he manages to whisper what he came here to say, small and scared and desperate.

"Don't go."

Jon's eyes are wide, locked on Martin's face; his hands grip tight around his arms.

"Martin?"

"Don't go. Don't leave. It's too dangerous." He tangles his fingers in the front of Jon's shirt, holding him close. He can feel Jon's own breath coming fast under his hands, his chest rising and falling rapidly. 

"M-Martin, is it - Are you really - You're back? To stay?"

"I'll stay if you do." It's a thoughtless promise - there's too much at stake for him to abandon Peter's plan so soon, when he's still not  _ sure _ \- but Jon is throwing himself into danger again, and Martin will stop him any way he can.

"Oh." Jon's eyes search his face, a fragment of uncertainty rising in his expression. "You heard, then."

"Yeah."

Jon does not relax - if anything, he grips Martin's arms even tighter, as if to reassure himself that he is really here - but his shoulders slump a little, and his voice turns resigned. 

"I have to go, Martin. Something's happening in Ny-Ålesund, something  _ bad. _ If I don't go... there's no telling  _ what's _ going to happen."

"There's no telling what's going to happen if you  _ do _ go, either, Jon." Martin shakes him slightly, using his grip on Jon's shirt to push him away before pulling him close again. "It's too dangerous."

"Martin..." Now his grip does relax, and he hold Martin's arms loosely, shaking his head. "I  _ have _ to go."

"You don't." Martin's eyes are damp, and he wants to be embarrassed about that - about the desperation he is showing, about how little he has earned the right to it after having been gone for so long - but he can't bring himself to be. "Let someone  _ else _ take this one, Jon,  _ please. _ Last time you went to stop a ritual you didn't come back, and I - I  _ can't  _ lose you again."

"Come with me."

Jon seems surprised at the words as they leave his mouth, but he doesn't take them back. He just stares at Martin, earnest and sincere, waiting for him to respond. 

And Martin... Martin takes a deep breath, loosening his grip on Jon's shirt, and shakes his head.

"I can't, Jon. I'm working on something - I need to do more research. There's a chance, but... I need to know more, before I make the call."

Jon nods, biting his lip. Then: "I trust you, Martin. I trust you to do the right thing. But, please - don't let the right thing get in the way of your own safety, I need -" he looks away, not meeting Martin's eyes. "I can't lose you, either."

Martin opens his right hand, laying it flat against Jon's chest. He can feel Jon's heartbeat under his palm, fast but steady. Alive. "Then give me something to come back to, Jon."

Jon tugs him forward a half-step without even seeming to be aware of it, leaning in toward him - then he stops, meets Martin's eye.

"I'm going to Ny-Ålesund."

"And I can't come with you."

"I'll come back, Martin, I promise. This time, I'll come back."

"I'll wait for you."

He's lying. Of course he is. But, then again - so's Jon.

They stand there for a minute, holding each other loosely - Martin still with one hand tangled in Jon's shirt, Jon's hands around his arms. 

Then Martin sighs, and steps back, letting his hands drop from Jon's shirt as Jon releases his arms. He puts on a smile - it is unconvincing, but so is the one Jon gives him in return, so that's alright. 

"Have a good trip, Jon. I'll see you when you get back."

"Good luck with the administration. See you in a few weeks."

Martin turns, and - as he finds himself doing so often these days - leaves. He does not look back, though he feels Jon's eyes on him until he turns a corner, and disappears from view.

(Weeks later, when he hears about the explosion near Ny-Ålesund that wiped out a full fifty miles of Arctic landscape - a meteorite impact, the authorities say - he goes back to his work calmly, hands barely shaking at all as he types at the keyboard.)

(A few days after that he breaks, sobbing into Jon’s shoulder as the Archivist - slightly scorched but alive - holds him close, bags once again abandoned on the floor.

“You waited for me,” Jon says, eyes wide and voice filled with wonder.

“You came back.”)

**Author's Note:**

> So... I originally wrote this with a bad ending, but it turns out I am physically incapable of using the "Major Character Death" tag at the moment. I just can't bring myself to do it. Let me know if y'all want me to post the dark version as a second chapter or something. The only bit that changes is the section in parentheses.


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